‘American Idol’ Contestant to Get Boot for Hiding Criminal Past

Oh boy. It looks like the Top 12 will get a lot smaller without votes from viewers. TMZ reports that ‘American Idol‘ will kick a contestant off this week for concealing his or her criminal record.

While no names nor even a gender was given, the gossip site reports that one of the Top 12 remaining contestants will be forced to leave the ratings juggernaut. The crimes weren’t described in detail, though TMZ does report that one of the offenses was a violent one. For both arrests, the criminal gave police a false name. Not cool!

The contestant hid the crimes from producers, though its unclear how they later wound up finding out — though the truth always comes out eventually. Here’s where it gets really interesting: We’ll find out who the contestant is on the Wednesday, March 14 show. The contestant in question was confronted with the information last night (March 13) on camera, and the footage will appear in tonight’s episode.

E! Online is speculating that the criminal is none other than “gentle giant” Jermaine Jones (nooooo!). Jones allegedly tweeted, “Awww I will no longer b on the show,” but the message has since been erased. Fox declined to comment on Jones nor any other contestant’s untimely exit.

UPDATE: Confirmed information that Jones is the contestant in question.